Sling strap retainer



Sept. 11, 1962 J. F. WHITE 3,052,886

SLING STRAP RETAINER Filed Sept. 16, 1960 INVENTOR. JAMES E h/fl/TE A TTOE VE) United States Patent 011cc 3,052,886 SLING STRAP RETAINER James F. White, Rte. 3, Box 693, Anacortes, Wash. Filed Sept. 16, 1960, Ser. No. 56,400 1 Claim. (Cl. 2-2) This invention relates to a sling strap retainer designed for application to the shoulder portion of a users jacket, coat, or the like, and it has for its object to provide a sling retainer embodied as a part of a patch piece that can be readily attached to the garment at the selected position of use and which retainer is of such character that it will efiectively and efliciently retain the sling strap against slipping oh the shoulder, yet will permit the user to easily and readily remove the strap from his shoulder when it is desired to use the carried article.

It is also an object of the invention to provide a sling strap retainer of the character above described, which is fixed to an attaching piece of leather, canvas, or the like, which is punched about its periphery to facilitate its being hand sewn to the jacket on which it is to be used or which is equipped with adhesive for its attachment and across which attaching piece the sling strap is laid in use.

Yet another object of the invention resides in the provision of a sling strap retainer of the character above disclosed comprising a stop that is formed with an overhanging lip, and which stop is so secured on the attaching piece that when the sling strap is laid across the latter, it will engage at one edge with the stop, beneath its overhanging lip; this being of a flexible or resilient nature that normally holds the strap against disengagement from the stop but which permits it to be readily pulled free or manually disengaged in event of necessity.

Still further objects and advantages of rhe invention reside in the various details of construction, and mode of use of the present sling retainer, as will hereinafter be fully described.

In accomplishing the above mentioned and other objects, I have provided the improved details of construction, the preferred forms of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view, showing the sling strap retaining means of the present invention as applied for use to a hunters jacket.

FIG. 2 is .a view showing the retainer somewhat enlarged, and as applied to the jacket.

FIG. 3 is a top, or plan view of the retainer, particularly the leather attaching piece as punched to fiacilitate its being sewn to a garment.

FIG. 4 is an edge view of the same.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged sectional detail of the retainer, taken on line 55 in FIG. 3.

Referring more in detail to the drawings:

The present sling strap retainer is especially designed for use by hunters for carrying a rifle or other firearm while walking or climbing in rough and rugged country. However, the device is quite useful, in a like manner, for carrying golf bags, creels, or any other object that can be carried by means of a shoulder or sling strap. Therefore, it is not the intent that the present device be re stricted or confined in its use .to the use herein specifically illustrated in FIG. 1.

The retainer of this invention, best shown in FIGS.

3,052,885 Patented Sept. 11, 1962 3 and 4, comprises an attaching piece 10 of material such as canvas, leather or other suitable material of a tough flexible character. Ordinarily this piece of material would be about three inches long and two inches wide, but these dimensions are not critical. The leather piece also, preferably, is punched at close intervals about its periphery .to facilitate its being hand sewn to the users jacket or coat, as has been illustrated in FIG. 2.

When the piece is of canvas, it can well be prepared with an adhesive coating on its underside, to adapt it to be pressed into holding contact with the garment by use of a hot iron.

Fixed to the top side of this attaching piece of flexible material, is the retainer or stop member designated in its entirety by reference numeral 15. This member, in its present preferred form of construction, comprises a molded block of hard rubber which is glued or otherwise suitably fixed to the piece 10 near what is herein designated at its outer end. This block has a rounded outer end surface 15a and a straight, transversely directed, vertical inner end surface 15b. For-med as a part of the block, at its inner end, is -a short flexible lip portion 15x that overhangs the surface 15b as has been shown in FIG. 4. When the retainer is properly attached to the shoulder portion of a jacket or coat, as seen in FIGS. 1 and 2, the sling strap 20 of a gun, golf bag, or other object to be carried, is applied across the leather piece with the outer edge of the sling strap engaged against the surf-ace 15b of the stop member as in FIG. 4. Thus, the attaching piece 10 serves as a protector for the jacket as well as an atrtaching member for the stop 15.

Assuming the device is so constructed, its mode of application is to lay it on the shoulder of the jacket or coat and then apply the sling strap across it and adjust its position to best suit the individual. Then the piece is stitched to the jacket by use of needle and thread as has been best indicated in FIG. 2 or by the adhesive, as disclosed.

In applying the sling strap across the retainer piece 10, it is engaged against the stop and is there normally retained by means of the overhanging lip 15x. However, if the gun or other object being carried becomes caught on some objectsuch as a rock, .tree or bush, the lip will yield sufficiently that the strap will be pulled tree. Likewise, in case of instant use of the gain, the strap can be readily pulled tree by the hunter.

Devices of this kind are relatively inexpensive, can be applied by hand to the users jacket or coat, and will well serve their intended purpose. Furthermore, if it is so desired, these retainers may be applied to both shoulders of the coat or jacket.

It is further apparent that the stop 15 might be made up of lanrinations of leather, or the like, to serve in the same manner as the molded rubber block, and the lip extended to the extent desired or found necessary. The flexibility of the lip for release of the sling strap when this is necessary, is an important feature of the invention, as is also the method of application of the device.

What I claim as new is:

A retainer for a gun sling or similarly used strap; said retainer comprising an attaching piece adapted \to be applied upon and secured to the shoulder portion of a garment to receive the sling or strap thereacross, and a stop member fixed :to the top surface of said attaching piece for engagement by the outer edge of the sling stznap as applied across the attaching piece at the inside 0f said stop; said stop member comprising a block of relatively small size with an inner edge abutment surfiace against which the outer edge of the strap engages as thus applied and formed along the top edge of said abutment surface with an integrally formed, inwardly projecting lip of relatively flexible material designed to slightly overhang the stop engaging edge of the strap and which lip Will flex upwardly to free the strap from the block incident to upward and outward pull on said strap.

UNITED STATES PATENTS Ior-d-an Jan. 3, 1911 Dunigan Sept. 22, 1914 Levin Aug. 31, 1915 Burdett May 2, 1916 Oct. 15, 1918 Cast Nov. 8, 1949 McCarthy Aug. 9, 1955 Silin Feb. 7, 1961 

